A very fine example of turning shit into gold. Where The Darkness comic mostly sucks ass, the game simplifies the concept to such a perfect balance, and provides a very endearing story with charming characters.

This feels like one of the last non-complacent FPS games out there during this period of video games, where it did not really understand what would be considered the most optimal design document at this point, something being wholly sharpened by the big shooter franchises during this time.

Yeah, it's clunky and slow, yeah the scenes are awkward with stilted acting, yeah the hubworld is kind of just a weird time sink, and ya know what? I fucking love it. I love the action, the darkness powers, the characters, and especially the music. It's all so fucking good, and didn't care how rickety it felt. And long-haired caveman Jackie spoke to me as an edgy teenager.

i played this whole fuckin' game with the music muted by complete accident. the entire thing. it's an immersive masterpiece and i took several pages of notes about how i adore it to pieces, but i don't even know how to review it anymore knowing that i drastically altered the sound design. that's something that's always very important to my opinions on a game. even worse is that i don't like the soundtrack (now that i've heard it). it's a 5 star with a giant asterisk. maybe i'll come back and write about the gameplay and story and shit. for right now... i don't know.

This game is an absolute treat story wise. I fell in love with the characters, and the journey you take on this quest for revenge hits all the right beats, at all the right times. It's incredibly well paced, with just enough side quests in the open(ish) world to keep things interesting if you need a break from the main story - but not too much to distract from Jackie's main goals.

The combat is very satisfying, with the darkness powers adding a lot of choice as to how you want to approach each encounter. There was a lot of experimentation to be had, and it would be very satisfying to learn which powers or weapons were best suited to each situation as they occurred.

I also loved the navigation - using the subway and using in world maps to figure out where to go really helped my immersion, and make exploration interesting. Though the walking speed did feel a tad slow at times, the maps are sized just to the point where it's never too much of an issue.

Only nitpick is that the locations all look very similar, mostly due to the aesthetic of the game. There is little that makes each place stand out, which makes the already small world feel even smaller.

This is an absolute hidden gem, and has one of my favourite cutscenes I've seen in a while. (In the orphanage - you'll know the one!)

The first The Darkness game is stuck in weird spot, somewhere between some Immsersive Sim esque design decisions in the vain of Starbreeze's previous game Escape From Butcher Bay and a modern first person shooter. Right when you boot it up and get to move for the first time, you'll notice how strange it feels to move thanks to being an actual 3d model in the game world like Mirror's Edge did it, resulting in the most realistic looking first person view legs when you look down. But it also feels heavy to move. The aim assist is very generous but doesn't use a typical crossair but a red dot attached to your weapons instead. A lot of decisions are made to immerse you in its world. There's a lot of time spent going through the subway stations, opening the gate with your ticket, walking to a train to get to the next station, leaving through the rotating gate that only rotates in the proper direction. The subway stations are filled with npcs walking around, some giving you little subquests for extras to unlock. There's no minimap, no objective marker or anything. Getting to the next mission requires reading signs in the game world and listening to your quest givers. I really like all of this, it gives the game a comfy feeling, it sucks you in its world. And I haven't even mentioned how cool the idea for the hell world is. But it's janky. Shooting isn't satisfying and the The Darkness' powers are implemented rather poorly, they almost feel like an after-thought. And when usage is required to continue the game, it's really bad at telling you. All of this makes the game a mess, but an immersive mess which I found more pleasing, the more I got to play it.

The Darkness es ese juego que nunca entenderé por qué se quedó olvidado en Ps3 y Xbox360, sin versión de PC pese a que su secuela sí la tiene. Es cierto que Starbreeze hizo lo que quiso con el cómic y más allá del nombre del protagonista, que es mafioso (o exmafioso) y la propia oscuridad no tiene nada que ver con los cómics, ni rastro del Angelus. Aún así consiguieron crear pequeño mundo abierto que se resume en dos estaciones de metro con una manera de guiarte por ellas realista que busca que te fijes en los nombres de las calles, de los establecimientos y que hables que la gente que pulula dichas calles. Los disparos se sienten poderosos, los enemigos saldrán disparados como en las pelis de los ochenta y los poderes de la oscuridad te harán una bestia en las sombras que no dejará a nadie con vida, llevándote sus corazones en el camino. Los momentos clave del juego están muy bien llevados y te meten en esa espiral de desesperación que Jackie está sintiendo, eso sí, sus monólogos entre pantallas de carga mejorarían si se estuviera calladito. Mike Patton lo deja todo interpretando a la oscuridad y es una delicia escuchar cada una de sus líneas, creando una sensación incómoda con las fluctuaciones en su voz. El juego también cuenta con misiones secundarias, la mayoría centradas en ir a un punto y matar a alguien o encontrar un objeto por ahí. No son necesarias para nada y si vas directo a la historia ni te darás cuenta de que existen. En definitiva, The Darkness es una joya retenida en esa generación aunque ahora gracias a la emulación se puede jugar de manera más accesible. Siempre recomendado.

There's a specific scene in the very begining that made me shed actual tears. I really enjoyed the world that was built around it. The subway system is neat to learn and explore. I liked that the game allowed me to immerse myself to find the next objectives. Though I wished this game had a PC port because aiming with the PS3, and the overall quality is pretty lackluster. It looks like its running on medium settings, and it struggles to hit 30fps consistently.

I'm curious as to how they evolve this gameplay loop with the second game, because honestly the Darkness wasn't fleshed out as much as I thought it would, and the gun play was subpar if it wasn't for the aim assist. I was more invested in the story of Jackie than I was with enjoy a fun FPS, but it was serviceable enough to get me through to see the ending.

weird ass ugly ass console exclusive mid 00s immersive sim-lite fps lol what. maybe one of the ugliest games ive ever seen?? like graphically so flat and textureless, a lot of the plot elements and character designs just rlly seem like the creative team behind this were on some nu metal type shit and I don’t rlly vibe w that era of design lol. however beyond the very cookie cutter story ripping on fuckboy movies and corporate grunge mid 00s angst designs there is some amount of palpable emotion and feeling in regards to jackie and his relationships w others and that’s kind of v surprising. v fun how many ways there are to go about fairly simplistic and rote missions and objectives,, gives u lots of powers and freedom and very well designed maps to allow u to have fun in. ultimately I think there’s too many options and abilities for how like short the game is like it introduces so many interesting things but it ends as soon as it starts. I rlly like short games but like this prob could be longer lmao. teeming w a real sense of life in it though,, like rlly fun and highly stylized posters and graffiti everywhere in this game, lots of ppl to interact w and call and obv the movies u can watch in game. makes it grounded in a sort of reality that it needs to be grounded in so u can buy into some of the bigger emotions this game is trying to get at. remedy ahhh game mechanics w rockstar ahh game writing. horribly cruel game at points and basically uses nyc as a microcosm of everything that’s wrong w america which sure?? but also I just think satires and critiques of america and it’s failings are way more interesting and true when coming from americans not to sound like uhh a patriot or whatever. also I didn’t finish this bc it’s ridiculously hard and commanding of ur attention and I don’t have either time or attention idk I got other shit to do lol so imagine this is rated four stars lol. anyhow check out this short little doc that’s available as extra content even if you don’t gaf about the game itself,, it’s nice to see ppl so passionate and creative :3
https://youtu.be/pMyEgsv-N3g?si=OLKnWMCtHjLgwZtI

An interesting enough story with a fun idea and dark, gritty atmosphere, however 2 mechanics when combined together really hindered my experience.

This game relies on you listening to the NPCs and really paying attention to where you need to go next. You will be looking out for street signs and trying to decipher your basic in-game map. Not usually a problem, however for a game leaning on this mechanic so heavily the main character moves way too slowly.

You're going to get lost on your first playthrough as you become familiar with the map and you are going to end up walking in the wrong direction. In this game small errors like this feel like they really punish you because Jackie walks at a snail's pace. This also prevented me from wanting to explore because I was too focused on the irritating, long walk back to the objective.

Overall it's a fun game with some of that classic Xbox 360 jank and edginess so I would still recommend.

So I won't mark this review as a spoiler, but I'll mark where the spoilers start. I have three words for anyone who hasn't played this game yet: PLAY. THIS. GAME. There are a few ways to play it: on original hardware, that is, the xbox 360 or the ps3; on an emulator, like xenia or RPCS3 if you don't have an xbox 360 or future xbox releases; or, backwards compatible on an xbox one or xbox series x/s. I took the third option, and it ran just fine, though it did not have an unlocked frame rate or save states. The unfortunate truth is, you'll be stuck playing this on a controller rather than on PC.
If you know anything about my reviews, you know that I love to nitpick and don't throw the word "masterpiece" around lightly. This game is a masterpiece. The reason I give this game five stars is simple: The Darkness is a game that deserves high praise and is much greater than the sum of its parts. The plot of the story is average, the gameplay is subpar and has aged poorly but is still fun, and the graphics and presentation show their age quite a bit. However, this game contains peak SOVL. It's unfortunate that this came out in 2007, and as a result was overshadowed by titans gaming that released that same year such as Bioshock, CoD 4, Halo 3, and Mass Effect, among many others.
The graphics are a mixed bag. You can definitely tell this game was made for consoles in 2007. It's about the same level of quality as some of the other releases from 2007, but shows its age a bit more because it tries to go for a "realistic" look. The lighting makes the game a little frustrating, but overall it's nothing too bad. It perfectly captures the dingy atmosphere of mid 2000s New York City. That entire city is just one massive public restroom at the street level and below, and the art style shows that. There are moments of comedy seamlessly thrown in to make the city more lively and believable, which is something I appreciate. The strange ramblings of the locals, the idiosyncratic street performers, and the unlockable voicemails you can listen to when you collect certain letters around the city are hilarious and charming. They don't veer off into Saints Row 3 style wacky territory either, as these are things people in the real New York City would absolutely do because being cooped up in that hellhole does things to people. The layout of the city is also incredibly immersive. I really like how the game doesn't spell out where to go, you have to talk to people and call the city's information center in order to figure out where to go next. It reminds me of the immersive way Morrowind is designed, but on a much smaller scale and much more linear. This helps put you into the shoes of Jackie Estacado.
Unlike something like Silent Hill 2, which I've admitted has an excellent story and atmosphere but extremely boring gameplay, there's still a pretty fun game buried under the jank of the combat system in this game. The fact of the matter is, the gameplay simply hasn't aged well. There are things like auto-aim that will help ease the transition from PC to console if you're not used to playing with the controller, but the game takes a lot of getting used to. For one, the Darkness takes a while to figure out using. It's kind of immersive in that way, because Jackie is just learning how to use his powers as well, so it's like you're learning how to control the Darkness alongside him. That being said, you'll only start out with one or two abilities and will have to rely on the subpar shooting mechanics and unreliable guns. Staying in the darkness will recharge the Darkness, and, if you have all of your powers unlocked and maximum darkness level, you can wreak absolute havoc all over the place. Things like the darklings, which have terrible AI but can still do some pretty serious damage and turn off the lights in the rare occasion they actually work properly, help make the combat much more enjoyable with their fun banter and their chaotic nature. The darkness powers itself are really good as well, like the overpowered black hole, the stealthy creeping darkness, the darkness tendril that I just used for taking out lights, and the darkness guns I never use. Overall, the game is pretty fun but has some issues. For one, the puzzles are unintuitive when they show up, and the elements you need to solve the puzzles blend into the environment too much. Another thing is the fact that the game does have you fighting in open fields, which is incredibly frustrating because your powers just weren't designed for combat in open fields. Another final thing is the fact that your darkness powers get automatically put away when you run out and you have to manually bring them back. This is a simple button press, but can lead to you forgetting to bring them back and getting brutally killed by your enemies in like two shots.
The story (Big spoiler warning here):
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"JENNY IS DEAD, PAULIE BETRAY ME, I SO FED UP WITH THIS WORL"
- Tommy Wiseau in his breakout role as Jackie Estacado.
The plot is nothing to write home about. However, this is a video game, and video games have two advantages over movies: they're longer, and you directly control the character. It starts kind of in medias res, at the moment your boss and uncle Paulie betrays you. Eventually, the events leading up to Paulie's betrayal are revealed, and you grow more attached to Jackie and realize that the situation isn't really his fault. You also grow to become attached to his girlfriend as well, because in the beginning of the game there's a romantic scene where you just sit on the couch and have the opportunity to watch the entirety of To Kill A Mockingbird. You feel guilty for leaving her alone in her apartment, which leads to you feeling even guiltier when she is killed by Eddie Scrote - I mean Shrote, and you feel a bloodlust towards the villains. The villains themselves aren't really compelling, as they're very one dimensional, but this game does really know how to make you hate them and relish in their demise. There's also a psychological element to it, where you not only feel for Jackie but also the Darkness itself. The World War I levels show how the Darkness feels isolated and paranoid, and how Jackie's family has borne the curse for a very long time. There is some very disturbing imagery that gives you a good insight into just how bleak things are for both of these characters.
Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend this game and am looking forward to the second one.